With 1,527 CIF member high schools in the state, diverse demographics and geography the state of California has a cornucopia of high school mascots. With 65 schools Eagles are the most popular mascot by a wide margin while Mustangs and Warriors are tied for second with 40 schools. But what's in a name? What are the most unique mascots in the state?

There are two mascot names that play off of the school's name quite interestingly. Burroughs High School out of Ridgecrest chose the mascot Burros, as in Burroughs Burros. One tongue twister is Torres High School out of Los Angeles, which opened in 2010 and chose Toros resulting in the Torres Toros.

Local unique names include the Coronado Islanders, Kearny Komets and Point Loma Pointers. La Jolla Country Day has one of the most unique names in the state, maybe country, with the Torreys. But there is a back story to La Jolla Country Day.

From 1926-55 La Jolla Country Day was known as Louise C. Balmer School. And in 2003 LJCD changed the mascot spelling from Torres to Torreys. The Torrey Pine tree is the mascot for LJCD and apparently between the tree and Torrey Pines high school LJCD decided to start correctly spelling the mascot name.

The Torrey Pine is a rare tree discovered in 1850 by botanist Charles Perry who named the tree after his friend John Torrey. Only two places in the world have Torrey Pine trees, La Jolla is one of them.

Haybalers

Some unique mascots from around the state include the Live Oak Acorns, Venice Gondoliers, San Benito Haybalers, Eureka Loggers, Wilson Mighty Mules, Mayfair Monsoons, Glendale Nitros, Los Angeles Cathedral Phantoms and Hollywood Sheiks. Some peculiar mascots include the Dunn Earwigs, Lincoln Fighting Zebras and Foresthill Wildfires.